Influence of land acquisition for rural tourism on the well-being of landless farmers based on the empirical analysis of PSM model

Abstract

Land acquisition for rural tourism has implications for poverty alleviation and development, and shows the characteristics of small scale, weak enforcement, and having the dual benefits of business development and driving local economy. Whether this kind of land acquisition will improve the well-being of landless farmers has become a hot topic in academia and politics, which needs to be analyzed from a multidimensional perspective. Based on the data of 817 farming households from 22 pilot villages where pro-poor tourism were implemented, in nine counties of Ankang, Hanzhong, Shangluo, and Baoji Cities in Shaanxi Province, China, this study first estimated the well-being of landless farmers by entropy method, and then used the propensity score matching (PSM) model to measure the net effect of rural tourism land acquisition on the well-being of landless farmers, and finally put forward some policy recommendations. The results are as follows: First, on the whole the total well- being and multidimensional well- being of landless farming households have improved after the implementation of rural tourism land acquisition, which indicates that land acquisition for rural tourism played an active role in innovating resettlement compensation methods, promoting the livelihood transformation of landless farmers, and improving infrastructure and public services; Second, with regard to the age and education level of the head of household, elderly households and households with lower level of education were harder hit by the loss of land. It is very important for the government to carrying out job trainings and improve social security policies. Finally, from the perspective of land lost types, although the well-being of complete landless farmers is slightly higher in all dimensions than that of partial landless farmers, a variety of measures still need to be taken to reduce the impact of land acquisition on landless farmers, so as to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Overall, land acquisition for rural tourism does not hurt the well-being of landless farmers, but it still needs to take a variety of measures for different types of landless farmers to reduce the adverse effects of land acquisition in order to achieve the goal of sustainable development.